Just Write

I receive daily emails from Advice to Writers. In fact I have a stock pile of linked posts from those that are to be used for inspiration for blog posts. Recently this one was in one of those daily emails. 

Advice? I don’t have advice. Stop aspiring and start writing. If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor is out of the country and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves. Take a deep breath and tell us your deepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we’re not alone. Write like you have a message from the king. Or don’t. Who knows, maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to. (Advice to Writers)

It really stood out to me and was just what I needed to hear really. If I write I'm a writer it is so true but it's more than that. I have so many story ideas that I'm almost afraid to start writing. There is a story idea that came to me recently. This one is the story of Prince James. I've had ideas coming to me for the past couple of months. I've put more planning into it than I felt that I ever have into a novel. I was considering waiting to write it until November for Nanowrimo, but then I wasn't sure that I even was going to do Nano this year (and am still unsure) and this story wasn't letting me go. Whenever there's a space in my thoughts it's there. Whenever I get out my journal to write I'm thinking about his story. It wants to be written and doesn't want to wait. 

My current journal 

Now after reading the above advice I think it spurred me on to just sit down and write. So that's what I did. I already have an idea of a large many things that will happen. It's the most prepared story of mine I've begun to write. Currently it sits in my everyday journal in places here and there. It's being written. 

But there are still struggles. After I had started vaguely writing in it I became unsure of what POV i want to write it in. I am most comfortable writing in first person and it is the one I have most used, but I also wanted to try third person on one of my stories. I considered, but really I stressed about which to day. After much debating with myself and even praying I felt to go with what I know. First person.

Still as I write it I feel so insecure. Am I doing it right? Is it even coming out right? Am I sure I am ready to write this story? All these questions are hanging under the surface. I have decided to write this story but it's scary. I'm not totally sure, yet I know I must write. Who would I be if I didn't. The urge and pressure to write and create is always there for me and so I must journey on. 

One day i hope to bring these stories into the world. I hope that they may touch others lives but for now I must focus on getting them written. Even in amongst school and life I must. Why? Because writing is my life. 

So I write. 

Is this something you have struggled with? Do you struggle with confidence even with the constant knowledge that you are a writer?